The St. Louis Blues are struggling so badly to score goals these days that even when they get one to go in the net it doesn't always count.
Left winger Alexander Steen thought he had scored the 200th goal of his NHL career on Thursday night but saw it waived off after the Dallas Stars challenged the goal because of goaltender interference.
That's just the way it has been going for the Blues, who did score twice in a 6-2 loss to the Stars, the first time in five games they scored more than one. They have gone 1-3-1 during that stretch.
The Blues will try to break out of that slump with two weekend games at home, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Backup goalie Carter Hutton will get the start on Saturday night.
Hutton has to hope the Blue Jackets are tired from all of the goals they scored Friday night. They set a franchise record with a 10-0 win over Montreal, handing the Canadiens their first regulation loss this season. It also matched the worst defeat in their history. The last time Montreal lost a game 10-0 was Jan. 4, 1942, to Detroit.
The Blue Jackets became the first team to score 10 goals in a regular-season game since the Blues did it on March 30, 2011, defeating Detroit 10-3. It was the first shutout by a score of 10-0 or greater in the NHL since Jan. 2, 1996, when Calgary defeated Tampa Bay.
"We obviously had a blast," said Blue Jackets left winger Nick Foligno, who scored two goals. "I've never been part of a game like that before. But we've got to put it behind us, just like a loss. ... We'll dance in the locker room and then we'll go."
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock probably was jealous as he watched the Blue Jackets on Friday night, well aware of his team's scoring slump.
"You don't score, you hear all the chatter, so you start pressing," Hitchcock said. "You start forcing the play. We're trying to score three goals in the same shift. It doesn't work that way.
"We're going to have to build some momentum back with better play. It's a frustrating time for everybody right now."
Nobody is more frustrated than right winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who is tied with center Paul Stastny for the team lead with four goals, but they all came in the first four games of the season. He has not scored in his last seven games.
Tarasenko's longest stretch without a goal last year was five games en route to his first 40-goal season.
The Blues have scored 24 goals in their 11 games, six in a win over Calgary, the only time in their last eight games they have scored more than two.
The Blue Jackets come into St. Louis riding a three-game winning streak, scoring at least three goals in all three games.
Blues • The Blues are back home after an 0-2 road trip to New York and Dallas in which they were outscored 11-2. ... The club has played 11 games this season and after a 4-1-1 start, the team is 1-3-1 in its last five games. ... The power-play unit is scoreless on its last 15 man-advantages. ... Carter Hutton will receive his third start in net against Columbus.
Blue Jackets • Columbus set a franchise-record in goals Friday in a 10-0 win over Montreal, which is one less than the Blues have scored in their last six games. The loss matched the worst defeat in Canadiens’ history. ... The Blue Jackets have a three-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored opponents 17-2. ... Columbus is 2-1-1 on the road this season, including a 4-0 win in Anaheim.
Injuries • Blues — D Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), out; Blue Jackets — RW David Clarkson (lower body), out.
The Blues said when they traded for Nail Yakupov on Oct. 7 that they were going to take it slowly with the 2012 No. 1 overall pick.
It will come to a crawl Saturday night.
Yakupov, who has two goals and four points in 11 games as a Blue, is expected to be a healthy scratch when the club hosts Columbus at 6 p.m. tonight at Scottrade Center.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock wouldn't confirm that Yakupov would be sitting out against the Blue Jackets, but the winger was not involved in the line combinations in the morning skate and he was one of the last ones off the ice.
"We've got lots of choices," Hitchcock said. "We've got 14 forwards and everybody is going to play this weekend, so we'll just figure it out from there. If he doesn't play today, he'll be back in (Sunday), so it's not a big deal."
The Blues' recent usage of Yakupov foreshadowed Saturday's move. After playing 12-plus minutes in three consecutive games in October, he had logged under 10 minutes in four of his last six games. And on Thursday in Dallas, he was dropped to the fourth line and was on the ice for season-low 7:28.
Kyle Brodziak was Yakupov's center on that line against the Stars.
"He really does care and he really wants to contribute and you can see the passion involved," Brodziak said. "You see flashes of it here and there where he makes say, 'Wow.' Some of the things he does are impressive, but I'm sure he just wants to do that more often. You've got to stay patient. The way we want to play the game. You want to be aggressive, but you've also got to wait for your right opportunities. It's going to be a learning process for him.
"I'm sure he wants to be in every night and help, but I think sometimes it's important if you don't feel like you're playing your best hockey to take a day or two and have a chance to reset. Hopefully he'll make the best of it, have a chance to work on some things after practice and gain some confidence back and just have a chance to reset mentally."
Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo echoed Brodziak's comments and added that Yakupov can still be a contributing part to this club.
"We've got a lot of guys in here," Pietrangelo said. "It's obviously a new system for him, a completely different situation coming from Edmonton. So this is all new to him and it's going to take some time to work him in and get used to the way we play. But he's been great for us, he's been nothing but professional and working hard. He fits in well with the group, that's the good part about it."
TONIGHT'S PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Alexander Steen-Patrik Berglund-David Perron
Jaden Schwartz-Jori Lehtera-Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri-Paul Stastny-Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall-Kyle Brodziak-Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson-Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson-Colton Parayko
Goalie
Carter Hutton
BLUE JACKETS' PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky-Cam Atkinson
Brandon Saad-Alexander Wennberg-Nick Foligno
Matt Calvert-William Karlsson-Josh Anderson
Scott Hartnell-Lukas Sedlak-Sam Gagner
Defensemen
Zach Werenski-Seth Jones
Ryan Murray-Jack Johnson
Markus Nutivaara-David Savard
Goalie
Curtis McElhinney
Columbus will be playing the second night of a back-to-back set, and wow what a night it was Friday for the Blue Jackets.
They dismantled Montreal 10-0 at Nationwide Arena, setting franchise records for goals and largest margin of victory, and meanwhile matching the worst defeat in a rich Canadiens' history that dates back to 1910 and includes 6,425 games.
The Blues were well aware of the number of times the cannon went off in Columbus when they got to the rink Saturday morning.
"I saw the score this morning," Pietrangelo said. "Obviously they can score. We don't play them that often, but looking at their team this morning, 10 goals against a pretty good hockey team, we've got to make sure we're on our toes."
The win was Columbus' third in a row and was Montreal's first loss in regulation this season after a 9-0-1 start.
"Hottest team in the NHL," Blues center Paul Stastny said. "Any time any one beats Montreal, it's their first regulation loss, so you have to respect these guys, they're playing well, coming off a couple big wins for them. We'll be ready to go."
Welcome to the Blues' net Carter Hutton, who gets the nod tonight in relief of starter Jake Allen.
"Just play hockey," Hutton said. "You can give up 10 any night. The guys in this league are good. Obviously things were clicking last night and they put up 10. It's only one game so we're not too worried about that. We're more worried about we do in here than what they do over there."
The Blue Jackets became the first team in the NHL to score 10 goals since the Blues did it March 30, 2011, in a 10-3 win at Detroit.
A few of the players were reminiscing Saturday about that game, which featured nine goal scorers and 15 players with at least one point. The only ones who didn't have a point were Pietrangelo, Ian Cole, Carlo Colaiacovo and the two goalies on the roster that day, Jaroslav Halak and Ty Conklin.
"I was zero's across the board," Pietrangelo said.
Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk remembered that the final score should have been 11-3, but the Blues had a goal by Patrik Berglund called back.
"I got in a little scuffle with (Johan) Franzen right as I believe Bergy was scoring on a 3-on-1," Shattenkirk said. "I believe it was Bergy, (Chris Stewart) and (Vladimir Sobotka), and they put the puck in and the goal was called back because I was trying to fight Franzen."
The Blues didn't need the goal, but Berglund did. In his third year in the NHL, the center thought he had his 20th goal of the season, which would have triggered a bonus in his entry-level contract. Fortunately for Shattenkirk, Berglund got another 6 1/2 minutes into the third period to reach the plateau.
"So somehow I made it out of there unscathed," Shattenkirk said.
The Blues, who have scored just five goals in their last five games, wouldn't mind having another night like that.
"It would be nice to put up 10 on someone," Shattenkirk said, "but I don't envision that happening anytime soon."
This day in history:
1955 Canadiens Jean Beliveau scored 2nd fastest hat trick (44 seconds).
1970 Glenn Hall and Ernie Wakely combine for 2-0 shutout over Bruins.
1970 During the same game above, Noel Picard sat down on the wrong bench during a shift change.
Fix this, Yeo, and the PP will start scoring. This is the setup that scored many goals last season with Brouwer in front. It will work. At least they are working to set it up, which they hadn't been doing for several games.